Manicina areolata

Lore & Background

Manicina areolata exhibits intracalicular budding, with corallites arranged in a meandroid pattern of linked centers in broad valleys, resembling a human brain surface. Colonies are small, often under 10 cm in diameter. The two growth forms are small solid hemispherical heads and unattached cone-shaped structures. The surface consists of long meandering walls with wide valleys; polyps sit in corallites from which fine septa extend in series up to the wall summits. Color varies from yellowish-brown to dark brown, often with contrasting valleys and walls. Polyps extend only at night and have green oral surfaces.

The species is native to the tropical and subtropical West Atlantic, including the southern Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, southern Florida, the Bahamas, and Bermuda. It inhabits soft sediments, cobble, rubble, fore-reef and back-reef slopes, and seagrass meadows, usually at depths less than 10 m but down to about 60 m. The massive form attaches to rocks on reefs; the unattached form occurs on broken coral fragments, sandy or muddy substrates, lagoons, and turtle grass meadows.

Reader's Guide

Manicina areolata is a common and adaptable coral species, rated as 'least concern' by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It tolerates a wide range of salinities, temperature variations, and some sedimentation. The unattached cone-shaped form can right itself if overturned by fish, currents, or waves. It does so by inflating its body cavity with water and emitting jets on one side to topple over—a slow process that becomes more difficult as the coral grows, which may explain why it seldom exceeds 10 cm in diameter. The coral also rids itself of sediment by producing mucus and sloughing it off like a skin. Its tissues contain symbiotic zooxanthellae. Manicina areolata is a hermaphrodite; gametes are produced around the full moon in May and June. Fertilization is internal, and larvae are brooded for two weeks before being released simultaneously on the night of the new moon. Larvae may drift planktonically or settle immediately. Other corals that co-occur with rose coral include Porites divaricata, Cladocora arbuscula, and several Oculina species.

Did You Know?

• The unattached form can right itself by inflating with water and emitting jets to topple over.
• Larvae are brooded inside the colony for two weeks and released simultaneously on the night of the new moon.